GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, MI – Grand Blanc Township officials
are back to the drawing board in finding a new Department of Public Works director.

Officials had narrowed the applicants to a top
candidate and were ready to negotiate a contract when the candidate declined
the offer Wednesday.

The search will be reopened until a candidate is
found, said Township Manager Keith Edwards.

"We're going to open it up and do it again, maybe do a few
things differently this time," he said, adding that finding someone soon is
important. "The sooner, the better. There's a lot a responsibility that goes along with this position – handling a $12 million budget, critical
infrastructure. We just need to find the right candidate."

At the end of 2012, a field of seven candidates was narrowed down to
three. When one of the three withdrew, two candidates went before the board on
Jan. 17.

The board unanimously chose Timothy Davidek, operation and maintenance department chief at Genesee County Water and Water Services, as the top candidate for the
position and was ready to negotiate a contract when he declined the offer
Wednesday.

Trustees Larry Anderson and Clark Kent said Davidek was
chosen for his experience and knowledge of the area.

"Tim was a really good candidate and we just couldn't reach
an agreement on terms," Edwards said. "We just need to start over."

Moving forward in the process to hire a DPW director is
important, since the DPW department is half the township's budget and half the
operations, said Kent.

"We haven't missed a heartbeat with Kirk gone. There's a lot
of things that need to be done that a director needs to do," he said.

Anderson is hoping to have a director in place within the
next 90 days, he said.

Because of a qualified staff, the department and the
township's water and sewer system have not suffered without a director,
Anderson said. But the lack of the department head is taking up a lot of
Edwards' time, he said.

"We are probably going to start over at ground zero for our
search and see what we can find. ... Last time we did this, we had some good
applications," Anderson said. "Hopefully we get some good applications to go
through and we will start over again."